What age/weight were your preemies when their feeding tube was taken out

[kanga]

And what feeding method did you transition to.

Background, my son is 10 days old and was born at 35w weighing 1.64kg or 3lb 10oz. I want to exclusively breastfeed and am pumping and trying him three times a day at the breast. He's only latched once. He is generally always sleepy and not that hungry as he is on three hourly tube feeds.

The nurses want me to give him a bottle but I'm scared of him developing bottle preference. I know we can't keep on as we are forever but I'm wondering if I should give it say until he is 37w corrected then give in and go for the bottle. And keep trying with the boob aswell and hope he takes it eventually.

And advice welcome and please share your experiences. Thanks for reading xx

 

[sunnylove]

My son was tube fed up until a couple days before he went home. Like you, I wanted him to be breastfed as I had been pumping since he was born and I didn't want him to have a bottle preference. When he first started eating by mouth at 36 weeks, he was breastfed, and I made sure they didn't give him any bottles for the first week or two. But he was taking almost no volume (maybe 10ccs per feeding) and I knew we would be in NICU for AGES if we just nursed, and obviously I couldn't be there for every single feeding. So we started bottle feeding him, which he wasn't really that much better at. He was just so sleepy honestly until he hit about 40-41 weeks when he finally woke up and ate!!

He still didn't take a ton at the breast, so we stuck to bottles, plus the doctors and nurses made me scared to nurse him because he needed a CERTAIN amount of food, and I didn't have a weight scale at home or anything. I nursed him here and there, but not often. Finally, I just decided I was done with pumping and bottles, and I just breastfed him the entire day one day and he has done great! (Although I think my supply is starting to dwindle.) He has no problems at breast or at the bottle!

 

[AP]

We tried bfing from 34weeks. She barely took to it and was left with the option to stay longer and try or go home with the bottle. In the end she barely took the bottle for a further few months. Looking back, it wasn't an option really.

NICU insisted there should be no issues with confusion but I would suggest choosing teats that are orthodontic.

You could also consider the medela calma as the baby needs to work for the milk the same as breastfeeding. It can look terribly long though so it might be worth chatting to neonatalogists for their past experiences.

 

[TheNewMrsB]

My sons tube came out at 35+1 day ( he pulled it out himself and the decided to see if he could go for the feeds on his own) we left the hospital at 35+3. he had to show he could go 48 hours with out it and gain weight. We left the hospital combination feeding of breast milk via boob and bottle - using the bottle to top him up if he got tired on the boob or I thought he hadnt fed particulaly well. When we got home I ditched the bottle and went to on demand feeding. We were 1oz over our birth weight when we left the hospital and had managed to gain 2oz between weigh days.

He never got confused between breast and bottle. His midwives said the best bottles to go for were the cheap ones you find in pound shops. My son went home on MAM bottles but another baby went home on NUK ones.

One lovely midwife told me that one day my son would turn a corner with reguards to feeding and just take off and he did lretty much right after I had a breakdown in front of her saying he would never get it and I would have to go home without him - we were on s transitional care ward where they only liked mums to stay for 14 days max as you tend to go stir crazy after that.

 

[misspriss]

Mine got his out at 17 days old, the day before he went home. He was 4lb 10 oz. He went home breastfeeding full time with nipple shields. We started breastfeeding at 5 days, so it took 12-13 days to get him feeding from me full time.

I did not let them use bottles, I was worried about confusion. He did end up getting confusion when I went back to work though.

 

[Srrme]

My 35 weeker was tube fed until shortly before he came home (he was in the NICU for 3 weeks). He was bottle fed my expressed breast milk the entire time and went exclusively to the breast once we arrived home (my 28.6 weeker did the same).

 

[kirstybumx3]

My 32 weekers tube came out at 6 weeks and 6 days old. Came home at 7 weeks 1 day old. He weighed about 6 and a half pounds when we came home x

 

[kit10grl]

Its bad that i am a little jealous of you all. DD had her feeding tube till she was over 13 MONTHS old. She had airway issues too. I hate the fact i ended up better at repassing her Ng tube than most of the nurses that dealt with her. Not something i ever wished to have to do to my tiny baby. She never latched at the breast, not even once andonlyinthe last few months has mastered bottle feeding. She is still a tiny girl at just over 8kg.

 

[kirstybumx3]

Its bad that i am a little jealous of you all. DD had her feeding tube till she was over 13 MONTHS old. She had airway issues too. I hate the fact i ended up better at repassing her Ng tube than most of the nurses that dealt with her. Not something i ever wished to have to do to my tiny baby. She never latched at the breast, not even once andonlyinthe last few months has mastered bottle feeding. She is still a tiny girl at just over 8kg.

its not bad, not at all.
I feel jealous lots of times at other preemies who have done so well compared to rio, or term babies.
think its just natural, I get jealous of mums who had complication free labours and were home with baby same day.
I get bump envy when people are 38-40 weeks and moaning about swollen ankles and backache! silly, but I do. I probably always will.
but our babies are all unique and that's what makes them special.
xx